


Family Aid

by Hekate1308



Series: The Crowley Chronicles [35]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 11:49:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14544111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: Everything is fine, for once. And then Sam realizes something.





	Family Aid

Everything is fine, for once.

At least that’s Sam’s impression. They have Mom back, Cas is alive once more, the Men of Letters, despite their empty threats, haven’t dared set foot on American soil again.

And yet Dean is unhappy. How he can tell, he doesn’t know; but it is an irrefutable fact that his older brother isn’t happy.

It doesn’t make any sense. They have won in every sense of the word. A spell Rowena found pulled Mom back into their world, instead of risking opening the rift; she survived the Apocalypse world okay; and she’s been more interested in their lives, their real lives, since she got back.

But sure enough, Sam has to clean the bins every few days so that Mom doesn’t notice just how much alcohol Dean puts away.

The penny doesn’t drop for a while.

It’s only when he glances at the label of one of the bottles (he rarely does, he’s not interested into what exact liquor Dean is busy downing at the moment) and it says, all too clearly, Craig.

And even then he needs another second to make the connection. Then his heart sinks.

Crowley.

This is what this is about.

The only time they really talked about the former King was when Rowena tried to bring him back, and Dean never lost a word about missing him.

But him drinking Craig all of a sudden? If that’s not a sign –

Then again, anything alcoholic is usually good enough for Dean when he wants to drink. Maybe he shouldn’t think too hard about it.

But then he notices other things.

How sometimes during cases, Dean will reach for his cell phone, then shake his head; how he always looks the other way when they pass by karaoke bars; and how he invariably gives demons who openly brag that they’re glad the King is gone a harder time than the others.

And while he notices these new tendencies, Sam realizes something else; something Dean seems to know already, something he must have from the moment they watched Crowley stab himself.

Without Crowley… their team is missing a member. Yes, he was evil (although he didn’t kill him back when he had every reason to – and lately, Sam has begun to wonder if that was truly a show of power or if even then he showed him mercy because of his and Dean’s… connection), and annoying, and stubborn; but over the years, he somehow became part of their little group, and now he’s gone.

Dean seems to feel this even stronger than he does, and over the next month, the few signs of grief he allows himself to broadcast to the world (probably, Sam thinks guiltily, because he thinks he’s the only one who cares) show no signs of abating.

Sam decides to ask Cas what he thinks about the changes in his brother. Mom probably hasn’t realized; Dean has been distant with them all for a while now, and she seems to have decided to slowly grow closer to him again anyway, which is probably safer for all concerned.

Cas however…

He only sighs when Sam shows him the bottle. “I tried talking to him. He wouldn’t answer.”

Sam nods. He never really understood Dean’s and Crowley’s relationship, but even before they were demons together, he had the feeling that his brother had somewhat mellowed when it came to him. And Crowley certainly only ever had eyes for Dean when they all happened to be in the same room. “I think he misses him and is not ready to admit to anyone just how much.”

“You might be right about that.”

“But what are we supposed to do? Just way until it passes?”

“Until what passes?” Mom asks.

Sam almost curses. Almost. “It’s nothing, Mom.”

“Is this about Dean? He’s seemed down, lately.”

Sam registers that Cas has used his mojo to send the bottle away and breathes a sigh of relief. “Yes” he admits. “We think it’s because of Crowley.”

“You think he misses him?”

“Crowley was more than just a demon to us” Cas says slowly, “He was… something like a friend.”

“I see.” Mom bites her lip. “And there’s no way to help him get over it?”

“I think that with Crowley, it’s different because we knew him for a long time – at least for us, I mean, no one stays around long when you’re in the life – and because he was immortal. It’s probably also why Cas’ deaths always hit so hard.”

Mom nods, then thinks about it for a bit. Then, she decides, “We’ll have to bring him back, then.”

“The new Death itself told us it’s not possible” Sam tells her, but she shakes her head.

“You also thought it was impossible to get me back without dragging the angels and other catastrophes into our world as well” she points out. “We’ll manage. We always do.”

And so the play to bring Crowley back is born.

Sam feels a bit out of his comfort zone when he calls Rowena to let her know.

To say that she’s a little miffed considering they didn’t really pay that much attention to her plight before other than to stop her would be an understatement but she still accepts their help, probably because – surprise, Sam thinks, rolling his eyes – she hasn’t given up her play to save Crowley in the least.

He should have known.

Mom has always been rather determined when she wants to be, and so she immediately dives into the necessary research.

“Say” Dean begins one day soon afterwards, “Do you have any idea what Mom’s working on?”

“No. I think she’s just curious about something.”

“Just making sure” Dean shrugs and Sam wonders how used he has become to people he trusts stabbing him in the back that he feels he has to.

In a way, they are lying to him now too; but apart from technically not even doing anything yet, Sam doesn’t want to give him false hope. He has already lost so much in his life, he doesn’t need to lose that, as well.

* * *

A few days later, Mom tells Sam and Cas that while she found no way to resurrect a demon, she thinks they could send a message to Crowley – if he’s in the Empty like Cas. “Granted, it translates to “scream into Nothing”, but that’s what the Empty is supposed to be, right?”

“Yes” Sam says slowly, “But what could a message –“

“I was thinking” Mom interrupts him eagerly, “that if Crowley gets a message, he might come back like Cas – because he wants to.”

Sam thinks, perhaps a bit uncharitably, that Mom seems as eager to help them now as she was with the Men of Letters back then, as if she’s trying to make amends.

“But does he want to? Crowley killing himself – tells me he was rather done with it all.”

“If he believes the message comes from Dean” Cas declares suddenly, “He’ll come. He always did when Dean called.”

That’s true, but it leaves them with the need to provide a message exactly as Dean would leave one.

Two hours later, they finally decide on something short and simple.

 _Peaches_ (Sam remembered he called him that once, and if he can, so does Crowley)  
 _Need you here. Follow the trail.  
D._

They’ve been discussing for the past half hour whether they should sign the note “Squirrel” or not, but Dean never referred to himself as such, and they don’t want to make him suspicious.

After they’re done, they call Rowena. She agrees to do the spell, although she grumbles a bit about “of course he would come at Dean’s request”.

And then they settle down to wait. They have no idea how long it will take Crowley to come back from the Empty; it could be days, it could be weeks.

* * *

Everyone has been so jumpy lately that for Dean, it’s almost a relief when Sam, Mom and Cas go for a milk run.

Plus, with the bunker empty, there’s no one to tell him off for drinking at 3 pm.

He has a glass of Craig. He didn’t like it much… before… before the Apocalypse world and a demon choosing to die for them, but now it’s a reminder of a late… friend.

He supposes that’s what he would call Crowley, if he was forced to explain.

The demon had simply been around for so long that it seemed almost incredible he should be gone in the beginning, and it’s still very difficult to remember sometimes that he can’t simply call him anymore when things go haywire. Or when either of them needs to talk; that happened a few memorable times as well.

And really, that new King, Asmodeus or whatever he is called, and the demons following his beck and call… They didn’t know what they had. Like Crowley always said, they are nothing but black-eyed idiots who don’t know a hood King when he’s standing in front of them.

He takes another sip of his Craig.

“That will kill you, you know” a well-known voice says behind him and he turns around slowly. A part of him isn’t even surprised.

“You bastard” he says, putting the glass down. “You goddamn bastard” he repeats for good measure as he strolls towards Crowley.

Then he surprised both of them by drawing him into a hug instead of punching him as he meant to. Crowley is too baffled to react.

He steps back and clears his throat. “So, any reason you suddenly decided to grace us with your presence again?”

Crowley looks a bit done in for, he decides, like Cas when he came back. A few days in the bunker should fix that.

“What do you mean?” he asks. “You sent me a message.” He pulls a slightly parched piece of paper out of his pocket.

Dean looks at it and has to admit that it sounds like something he’d write, but a. He had no idea how, and b. He’s pretty sure even if he did  not even he can get drunk enough to forget he sent a message into the afterlife, and the demon one at that.

“The Empty wouldn’t let me go, at first” Crowley continues to complain, “And once I had finally defeated it, I ended up in a field miles from here, and it took me a while to get my bearings…”

“Crowley, I really didn’t write you that note” Dean interrupts him. “I didn’t know it was possible.”

“Then you don’t need me after all?”

Crowley doesn’t even sound angry, but tired and defeated; it’s the same look in his eyes he had when he told them goodbye, and Dean suddenly can’t bear it.

“Technically not right now, but of course I’m glad you’re back.”

Crowley raises an unimpressed eyebrow. Dean sighs. “Come on, you know I am. We’re – we’re – oh who cares. Do you want some Craig?”

“That would be acceptable” Crowley decides.

Dean nods. It’s a start.

* * *

It’s Mom who first speaks of what they don’t want to talk about. “What if it doesn’t work? What if Crowley doesn’t come back? Dean looks sadder every day.”

“He’ll manage. He always does” Sam says, uncertain.

“Dean is very strong” Cas agrees, “But I will confess that I myself will also be disappointed. I… got sued to Crowley.”

And that’s the problem, Sam thinks. They all, like Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady, grew accustomed to his face, and now they miss him, even though half the time they knew him he was working against them. He sighs.

When they arrive back at the bunker, they can hear Dean talking in the kitchen; and something (probably burgers) smells rather good.

“Jody?” Sam asks; Cas shrugs.

As they come nearer, they hear, “I don’t care that you don’t need to, a full stomach will do you good –“

Sam frowns. What –

They enter the kitchen to find Crowley studying Dean at the stove; his brother turns around. “Anything you want to tell me?”


End file.
